The Upper Montgomery Lightning junior varsity has started the 2023 – 2024 season with two consecutive shutout victories. The team will look to make it three victories to start the season with a win over the Blair Blazers on Friday afternoon. Game time is 4:10 pm at Rockville Ice Arena. The Lightning will be looking to play a more complete game than the team did in Sunday evening’s contest against Northwest/ Quince Orchard, a game in which the Lightning won in spite of a lackluster effort. Depending upon how the game progresses, some roster management may occur as the program has a varsity game later Friday evening in which several of the junior varsity student athletes will participate.
Ninth grade netminder Ilan Shterenberg has authored shutouts in his first two career high school starts stopping twenty shots against Whitman and only needing to make nine saves against Northwest/Quince Orchard. Another strong defensive effort on Friday afternoon will help as he tries for a third consecutive shutout victory. If Upper Montgomery brings the effort and hustle displayed against Whitman, the team should be in control of the game. The junior varsity team should continue to play much better this season, but that will all depend on how well the team defends. Not just the defense, but the forwards backchecking hard and coming back to help in coverage. The team has a significant amount of experience on defense. In net for the Blazers is expected to be a split game between Gavin Masaya and Alexander Azcarate. Masaya faced a potent BCC squad in his only career game while Azcarate was better against an inferior opponent in the DC Stars.
On defense the Lightning’s experienced defenders are still looking to jell. Seniors Sean Levine and Jake Roth will see extensive action. Offensive minded defender Cole Howerton who created many scoring chances against Northwest/Quince Orchard will log heavy minutes once again. He will likely pair with hulking defensive defender Patrick Sell or Behr Schicker who has been a nice surprise over the first two games of the season. Schickler looks more comfortable in his sophomore season. Ninth grade defenders Miles Wendland and Avery Evans will each play a significant role against Blair. Wendland will return to the lineup after being out of town with his external travel team this past weekend. Evans will be making her Lightning debut. Blair has a relatively young roster with no experienced defensive skaters. Upper Montgomery must take advantage of this shortcoming. A rotation of forwards may need to drop back and play defense for the Blazers.
Up front the Lightning have received two goals each from junior co-captain Josh Nadler and junior TJ Gottesman. Senior co-captain Adam Levine has stood out for his stellar play over the first two games of the season. The team’s leaders have played very well against Whitman and Northwest/Quince Orchard leading by example with outstanding effort, hustle, and determination. With the team unlikely to burst out offensively, every single forward will need to contribute. Expect that AJ Marks and Aiden Zheng will chip in offensively on Friday. Jackson Schickler will continue to see lots of ice time, and he is improving with each game.
Blair will be led up front by Eva Caron. She is the team’s best forward playing on a team that is starved for goals. The Blazes have scored only one goal over their first two games. Unfortunately for Blair, there is just not enough talent to compete with the middle and top junior varsity teams in the Montgomery Hockey Conference.
Upper Montgomery will need to maintain focus throughout the entire game, something they did not do particularly well against Northwest/Quince Orchard. If the game is competitive, the Lightning will need to be laser sharp with their defensive assignments and structure. If Upper Montgomery is able to open up a bit of a lead during the game, the team will need to be very focused on attention to details to prevent bad habits from creeping into their game moving forward. Every game is an opportunity to shine and impress the coaching staff and demonstrate that the student athlete deserves additional ice time.
Upper Montgomery junior varsity will be looking to push their record to 3-0 on the young season with a very winnable game. However, the Lightning will need to take charge and grab hold of the game. Waiting around and playing a loose style will not beat the better teams in the conference.
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